Federation Commander

I realize that the whole concept of PF's may have run its course, and will probably never make its way into the FC universe. Here's something I've tried -- use fleet scale frigates as PF's in a squad scale game. The point values are in the ballpark and the ships have a little more "race flavor" than the generic official PF's from SFB. Has anyone else tried this?

I don't know who said gunboats would never be in FC (even if only in BoM).

I just get the feeling they're on the back, back burner. I'm new to the forums and I don't have the time to go back and read every thread, but there is a definite buzz about what's coming and what's not. If PFs are years down the road, I'm just trying to come up with something that suits me for the present. And who knows, I might find I'm not alone.

Hmm sound an interesting idea, a lest as an interim option. I know Steve is against to much discussion about rules for gun boats in FC and I think I know why (sure ill be corrected if am wrong ), I get the feeling they are on the back boiler at the mo and when they are addressed he want to do them justice with no pre conceptions in our minds from talk on this and the heritage site.

Having said this I am up to give this a go after we have finished our least campaign, if the lads are up for it.

Final before thing go to deep on the rules side and the cross over from SFB, I'm quite happy to forget about tender etc., so we can have a discussion about this with out it been locked (see previous threads on Gun Boat's/PF's)

What is a PF?

What is a PF?

Pseudo Fighter --- Gunboat --

SFU equivalent of a PT Boat --

Pseudo fighter was the old term.

PF is now Patrol Fast.

Think WWII PT boat with PT meaning Patrol Torpedo

PFs are Fast Patrol Ships from Star Fleet Battles. (They were once called pseudo fighters, but that term has been dropped.)

They are either very small starships or very large fighters and because of the ambiguity they are classed by themselves. They are treated like starships for purposes of energy allocation, but they can carry packs similar to fighter dashpacks. They typically operate in squadrons of six and are deployed from specialized ships called tenders (PF Tenders. If you have ever seen a list of SFB ship classes you will see things like the D6PFT...that's a tender.) Basically, six of these little ships would dock to a mothership and be carried into combat and then (with any luck) be carried back home.

Most empires created them to add firepower to their fleets about the time of the General War. The Federation did not make them.

They are sometimes assigned to bases as defensive units.

Before the PFs there were interceptors, which are similar to PFs, but if you can believe it, even smaller.

I did a PF card four or five years ago. Just found it and sent it to Joel to put into commander's circle. It should get there sometime today. When somebody finds it, please add a link here.

I'll be interested to see how Alpha Octant PF rules work in FC/BoM, if only so I can then try to figure out how to pick them apart and re-work them in order to support gunboats as seen over in the Omega Octant.

(SFB Module Omega 5 includes gunboats for several Omega Octant empires; which, unlike Alpha PFs, have quite a bit of variety in terms of how big they are, how many operate in a flotilla, and what kind of weapons loadouts they have on offer. One key element of them is in their "volatile warp" engines; which have a somewhat Orion-esque afterburner function built into their operation.)

EDIT: G1L Ship Card.